


A Bee in a Hornets Nest.

by Chiri_chan



Category: Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Shattered Glass
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Gen, Gore, Graphic description of torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suicidal Thoughts, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-21 17:23:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9559502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chiri_chan/pseuds/Chiri_chan
Summary: "So," I almost jump out of my plating at the sudden voice right next to me, not having noticed his approach, whip my optics back to him and try to pull my plating even closer to my protoform as I meet those red optics that stare at me with an intensity that is so foreign yet so familiar, "You call yourself Bumblebee correct?"I press my lip-plates together in refusal to answer."Hmm... Alright. I'll just skip the pleasantry's then," Optimus Primes hand rapidly rises up up and grips my cheek-plates, squeezing them and bringing my face closer to his until my vents fog his battlemask and my vision is filled with blazing red, "How do I get to your dimension, or In other words; How do I make a portal like the one you came through."





	1. In the Hornets nest.

The reboot sequence starts up slowly, almost reluctantly, _'like it would if it were forced into stasis.'_ the thought whispers through my processor before getting shoved aside when a groan escapes me as I become aware of the various aches coming from my body, but mostly the dull pounding ache from my helm and the burning in my door-wings. After a minute my tired processer wakes up enough to start doing diagnostics and I suppress another groan as I'm suddenly bombarded by a flood of error messages, I quickly pick out the worst ones and shove the others aside to deal with later. The two most urgent ones inform me of puncture holes in both my door-wings and a deep dent in my helm.

 _'Well at least that explains the helm-ache.'_ I think sluggishly. I try to reach up to rub my face only to realize that my servos are tied together above my helm and I freeze, The moment it takes for me to process what this means and all it's implications seems to stretch for an eternity before my battle protocols slam online and I online my optics.

I try to assess my surroundings with frizzing optics and quickly conclude that I'm hanging by my arms in the middle of a small dark purple metal room with my pedes chained together and bolted to the floor, facing a solid, thick looking door surrounded on all sides by splatters of dried liquid stains on the floor, walls and, I realize with a growing sense of nausea and dread, even on the ceiling. I push away any thought of what those stains must be and instead look intently up at the steel cables tying my slightly trembling servos to the ceiling as I force my shaking pedes under me to take pressure off my aching shoulders and flatten my armor to protect as much of my protoform as possible, gather my strength, dig my pedes into the floor and bare down with all my might to pull my servos out of their restraints when suddenly both of my door-wings give screams of agony and and I can't help the scream of pain that rips out of my vocalizer as my legs give out and my arms take all my weight with a groan of protest.

Air puffs out in front of me as I shakily try to think past the pain still swimming in my processor, after a moment I get myself together enough to look at my door-wings even as my body still trembles with after shocks, I slowly turn my helm to the side and feel my tank fall to my pedes as I look at what seems to be sharp thin cabling put through a melted hole in the middle of my door-wing, keeping it stretched out and vulnerable and a quick glance to my other side confirms it's the same for the other wing. I start to shake in earnest as the shock I had been using to keep a level helm starts to wear off and the reality of where I am starts to truly sink in, I shake my helm in denial and desperately pull my arms down only to shriek in pain as some of the cables holding up my arms wrenches upwards on the ones looped through my door-wings.

"F-frag." I choke as I feel energon drip down my wings from where the cables had cut into them deeply. "I must b-be having a memory p-purge, a r-really bad one." But the fresh pain from my door-wings makes even that fragile hope extinguish as the last wisps of denial fade away and all i'm left with is the sound of my own plating rattling in fear and the occasional drip of energon from my door-wings.

 _'the Decepticons have finally captured me and now i'm- they're going to-...'_ my vents hitch in a sob of terror as I offline my optics and curl into myself as much as I can, _'Megatron's going to torture me._ '

For a moment I drown in hopelessness as the weight of my situation settles around me like a shroud and I shake in muted pain and fear when suddenly the significance of what I just said hit me, or should I say the fact that I just said something hit me. "Wait, My battlemask is gone and I-I can talk..? How...?"

I stare forward unseeingly in shock as thoughts start to whirl through my processor. _'Ratchet said we didn't have the materials to repair my vocalizer here on earth so how did the decepticons get them? And for that matter how I even get here? the last thing I remember is talking with Raf about fixing the space bridge. Did I get sent on a mission? Was i out for a drive with Raf? Am I even the only one who got captur- No!'_ I shake my helm forcefully to get rid of the endless cycle of fear and questions with no answers, ' _No i can't think about things i can do nothing about. I have to focus on getting out of this with my processor intac-'_ My thoughts are interrupted when i hear the sound of a keypad being activated outside my cell. I quickly scramble to get my pedes under me and school my expression as best I can, mentally berating myself for letting my thoughts distract me from what was going on around me and start dredging up memory's of teachings from Jazz from when I first became a scout and the risk of getting captured on the battlefield was an everyday reality. _'I wont give in,"_ I give the door my best defiant glare as I straighten my backstruts, _'I'll stay strong until Optimus and everyone comes to save me.'_ I think with all the determination I can muster as the lock finally clicks and the door opens, feeling a glow of hope in my spark despite the circumstances at the thought of all that my team- no, my family will do to get me back.

My capture pauses in the doorway as I look away, momentarily blinded by the light that suddenly floods the dim room. I shutter my optics a couple times, look up and for a moment feel cold dread wrap around like ice around my spark before I get a look at their face and a smile suddenly brakes across my face as most of that feeling melts in relief even as i feel simultaneous apprehension make my insides quiver with a whisper of fear that something was off about him that my addled processor couldn't put it's servo on, and told to me keep my battle protocols engaged. I did force my plating to relax slightly from where it had been clamped down to my frame though, after all I shouldn't have anything to fear from my family... right?

"Optimus? What happened? How did my vocalizer get fixed? Why am i locked up? D-did I finally frag off Ratchet one time to many?" I try to joke and summon up a self depreciating smile knowing it would usually get at least a small smile of reluctant amusement from him no matter how in trouble I am, But instead of a huff o grudging laughter like I've come to expect, I'm met with a battle mask and stony, ice cold silence and i feel the smile slide off my face as It becomes apparent that this isn't the kind of circumstance that can be smoothed away with a joke. "D-did i d-do something? Did I hurt someone? I-I must have if you had t-to restrain me, are they alright!? Did I hurt Raf- Jazz!? What are you doing here!?" I exclaim in shock as I stare at the mech who had just come bouncing in behind Optimus as he walked into the room as if he hadn't a care in the world followed by another that I had never laid optic on before but had a definite air of barely controlled menace and whose frame looked eerily similar to jazz's except his paint was different and his visor was gold.

As i stare at them in the strangely charged silence that falls over the room as I wait suddenly nervous for some kind of reply, I realize something was off about these mechs and I force my slow processor to find what was making my plating crawl when I stare at the mechs I should trust the most, after a second it hits me like a plasma blast to the face and I can't help the gasp of alarm that bursts out of me. "W-what happened to your paint!? A-and Optimus y-your optics they-they're red!" The words seem to echo around the room before laughter suddenly fills the room and I quickly flick my optics to Jazz as he doubles over in mirth.

"Oh, you should 'ave seen your face! It was priceless! Ah told you he would catch on 'fore we did anythin', he is just 'nother Goldbug after all an' Goldbug didn't get where he is by bein' _stupid_. Ya owe me twenty shanix Ricochet!" He grins at the other mech, apparently called Ricochet, as he straightens back up his vents hiccuping a few more times in fading laughter before looking at me with his familiar blue visor and I feel a brief surge of hope that maybe they're playing a trick on me before jazz flashes me a dark smile that sends cold fear though my circuits and gutters out the small flare of hope as I recognize it as the one he used on decepticons just before he started interrogating them within an inch of they're existence and I feel dread start creeping through my lines as I stare in mute horror at the mech who could be the cybertronian equivalent of my uncle suddenly look at me like I'm the enemy.

Jazz opens his mouth to say something but a noise from Ricochet makes me quickly turn my optics towards him but he just glares at the floor, crosses his arms and mutters something darkly to himself. Jazz stiffens and almost lazily turns back to Ricochet as his visors light brightens and narrows, while his smile somehow gets even sharper than before. "What was that ya said mech? I didn' quite 'ear that. Could ya speak up?" Ricochets head whips up and his face morphs into a sneer as his gold visors light narrows to a slit."I said maybe now you can afford some lessons for that instrument you play so that when you use it, you don't make mechs wish they could claw they're own audials off!" Jazz abruptly launches himself at Ricochet with a snarl of rage and Ricochet grins as he braces himself.

"Stop!" The sudden commanding voice causes them both to freeze inches from each others throats. I whip my gaze over to Optimus as he looks coldly at the two mechs and they quickly scramble away from each other and both almost simultaneously fall to they're knees in supplication.

"Sorry, Prime." "Sorry, Prime."

"Hmm," Optimus just stared at them with optics like burning embers waiting for breath of wind to ignite. "You both know the rules." Jazz and Ricochet curl in on themselves in resignation and I watch in disbelieving horror as those simple movements seem to turn that ember into a raging inferno as Optimus grabs Ricochet by the helm and throws him into Jazz with nary a flicker of an optic at the sudden crash of metal hitting metal and screech as the body's slide across the floor only to hit the opposite wall.

I flinch at the sudden crash and the energon chains holding my servos rattle causing Optimus to turn towards me and I let out a whimper as I meet those blazing red optics set in a face that I've come to trust more than anything. Optimus' gaze bores into mine for a moment before he turns his attention back to the other mechs in the room. "Jazz, Ricochet, Get up and go grab my tools and the medic. I believe the Mini-bot has waited long enough." He commands without breaking optic contact with me. Jazz and Ricochet blink in surprise and barely hidden horror at the mention of the medic, but quickly if unsteadily climb to their pedes, snap a salute and hastily marched -keeping a good two feet between each other- out the door and into the corridor the door closing behind them with a clang.

"So," I almost jump out of my plating at the sudden voice right next to me, not having noticed his approach, whip my optics back to him and try to pull my plating even closer to my protoform as I meet those red optics that stare at me with an intensity that is so foreign yet so familiar, " You call yourself Bumblebee correct?"  
I press my lip-plates together in refusal to answer knowing that any good interrogator starts with easy questions to get the prisoner comfortable with talking and make it harder to keep they're silence when they start digging for the important answers.

"Hmm... Alright. I'll just skip the pleasantry's then," His hand rapidly rises up up and grips my cheek-plates, squeezing them and bringing my face closer to his until my vents fog his battlemask and my vision is filled with blazing red, "How do I get to your dimension, or In other words; How do I make a portal like the one you came through." 'Portal? Wait, does he mean the Space Bridge?' I feel my optics flicker in shock as the memories of how I got here abruptly flood my processor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time posting on this site so tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is welcome. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!


	2. The Beginning of the End.

=Flashback=

"-been on the fritz lately and has been giving off strange ghost signals, so i don't think it's wise to- Are you even listening Bumblebee?" Ratchets snappish voice pulls me out of my thoughts of the drive I was planning on going on with Raf later and I hastily straighten to attention and give him my best focused look and beep an affirmative. "Hmph right, well just don't go near the Space Bridge until I say so and quit spacing out during meetings, got it?" I salute him and give him the most serious 'yes, sir' I can. I hear a chuckle from beside me and sheepishly glace around at the other Autobots, Bulkhead looks at me with a big grin, the laugh obviously having come from him, while Arcee gives my a disapproving stare even as I see the amusement flash in her optics and Optimus looks back at me with bemusement, a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.

I turn to him and fold my hands in the human gesture of pleading and make my optics as big as I can, _**~Can I leave, Raf is going to get out of school soon! Please, please please!~**_ I chirp imploringly.

Optimus gives a small chuckle of amusement, "Yes, Bumblebee you can go pick up Rafael from school I believe the meeting is over, is there anything else you need to say Ratchet?"

Ratchet glares at me for a seconds before giving a huff of irritation. "No I suppose not, it's nothing that he needs to stay here for at any rate, But i would like to talk to you Optimus."

"Of course old friend, anyone else?" Everyone responds with a chorus of negatives, I chime in with mine before giving a whir-chirrup of excitement and practically dashing for the exit-

"Wait, Bumblebee." I turn around and look expectantly at Bulkhead as I bounce on my pedes with barely contained energy which fades a bit as I see the unease on his normally happy face and I give a concerned chirrup-beep, "No, I'm fine, it's just... I got this feeling that something bad's about to happen. Just be careful and get back here safe okay? I've still gotta go get Miko," When I still hesitate he waves his big hands in a 'shoo' gesture and says "Go on, hurry up, Raf's probably waiting for ya, I'm sure it's nothing." I wait a moment longer searching his optics before finally nodding and giving him a big thumbs up before changing into my Alt-mode and racing down the tunnel leading outside.

Twenty minutes later finds me zooming down the abandoned road leading to the base a dust cloud forming under my racing tires and I know if anyone could a see under my battlemask they would see I'm wearing the biggest grin right at the moment I swing around a corner at breakneck speed, sending my tires skidding in a power-glide that would make racecar drivers jealous. I gun down the road imagining that its a raceway and thousands of fans are in the bleachers screaming my name- When suddenly I feel the charge in the air that signifies the impending arrival of a Space Bridge; I hit the brakes in a panic as I watch it come into existence down the road but my tires skid and I quickly realize that i'm going to be able to stop in time and desperately transform and dig my pedes into the earth and -of course- fall right on my face and still managed to slide a few more feet on my face, but hey at least I stopped.

I blink dazedly and shake the dirt off my face and quickly climb back up to my feet, arming my blasters and watching my surroundings and the Space Bridge warily, it was smaller than normal -way too small for Optimus or Ultra Magnus- but seemed big enough for Arcee or me to fit through, which only made me more suspicious. When nothing comes out -or try's to go in- for several minutes, I try to comm. Ratchet only to get static, which could either mean that I'm getting interference from the Bridge or that he's too busy to answer his comm. right now. I bite my lip-plate in nervous contemplation as I stare into the whiling vortex.

 _'Well,'_ I think, _'This could either be an emergency and everyone could be in danger or, more likely, this is a really weird trap set up by the Decepticons.'_

I start to call Ratchet again when I pick up the tell tale sound of vehicon jet engines approaching my location and quickly send a distress signal to my team and hope that it gets through as I prime my weapons again and position myself so that I can keep an optic on both the Bridge and the incoming vehicons.

 _ **~C'mon, anyone,~** _ I beep as I continue to frantically hale Ratchets, Primes, Arcee's , even Bulkhead comm. frequency's, but still all I get is static,  _ **~For Primus' sake, please pick up!~**_

They suddenly come into view as they pass over the far cliffs and, by Primus there's a lot of them, way to many for me to take out by myself. I take a few steps back as I glance frantically between the incoming vehicons and the Bridge.

 _'Well, looks like the choice has been made for me,'_ I run to the opening of the portal, my blasters turning back into servos, I pause to look over my shoulder and send out one last desperate emergency ping to my team only to get the same droning static from before, _'I hope this leads to you Ratchet or, as Miko likes to say, it's out of the frying pan and into the fire.'_ I make myself wait for a response until I can hear the vehicons starting to land behind me, screw up my courage and run into the portal.

 

<~*~*~*~>

 

I run out the opposite end- and straight into open air, giving a short electronic scream as I fall and try to brace myself for the inevitable impact. I hit the ground with an unforgivable clang of metal on metal and give a pitiful warble of pain as I turn over onto my back. Luckily I don't seem to have any major injury's except for some new dents and scuffs. I look up at the Space Bridge just in time to watch it vanish into nothing and give a whir of annoyance.

 _'Great, there goes my only way outta here.'_ I think bitterly as I sit up, I glance around me and quickly transform my servos into blasters when I notice the distinct purple metal walls _'So it was a Decepticon trap,'_ I force myself to stand up on slightly wobbly pedes before steadying myself and looking around.

It looked like I was in a large storage room with no accessible air-ducts and no other exits, so I quietly sneak toward the closed door, carefully open it and peer into the hallway, spotting no one I randomly pick a direction _(no point in trying to figure out the direction of the exit when i'm completely unfamiliar with my surroundings)_ and cautiously make my way towards what I hope to be the exit, sticking close to the wall.

 _'Good job Bumblebee, just waltz right into the strangely shaped space bridge, it's not like it could be a surprisingly clever ploy set up by the Decipticreeps to trap you in an unfamiliar base (ship?) with no way to contact the team without alerting Soundwave to my presence- Wait,'_ I slow down my steps a bit as something occurs to me, _'If this is a trap made by those 'cons why did I end up in a storage room with no one there to apprehend me or gloat over my foolishness? Could this not be the Decepticons?'_

Before I could follow that train of thought to wherever it was going I round another corner, pausing when I see that there are two hallways. I sigh and look down one, see nothing except more of the same, turn around to the other and stop dead in my tracks. My optics blow wide in horror as I stare at what seems to be rows of dead mechs suspended in glass cylindrical pods full of semi-transparent red liquid with bits of their own armor floating beside them, but they weren't just dead. They were mutilated, most of them with their limbs floating separate from their chassis, some just pieces suspended in the liquid, a few barely even recognizable as Cybertronians and all of them -the ones who still had their heads anyway- with looks of absolute terror on their faceplates. I don't know how long I stand there, frozen with horror and disbelief at the sight before me, but eventually I am able to recover enough to hear the distinct sound of voices echoing from the hall to my left and make a split second decision to go down the hallway of death instead of back tracking.

I sneak down the hallway as fast as I can, trying not to look too closely at the tubes on either side of me, when something on one of their chassis' catches my optic. It was the Decepticon badge except it was Autobot red instead of purple, and for a moment I stare at it in confusion before shaking my helm and quickly moving towards the archway at the end of the hall. But I can't help glancing at the other corpses as I pass them, noticing it's the same with all of them, each of them bearing the same red symbol, and as I continue to make my way steadily towards the exit out of this hallway of horrors, I feel dread creep through my circuits as it becomes apparent that wherever I am, it's probably not anywhere near home. I reach the end _(finally, thank Primus)_ and peer nervously into the adjoining room. I feel all my thoughts vanish when I see something that I hadn't seen since arriving to earth, something used by sick, twisted mechs who only used the war as an excuse to feed their awful desires for causing as much suffering as a mech could stand before offlining.

 _ **~A Smelting pool...~**_ I whisper in horror as I step numbly into the empty room, my optics transfixed on the sight before me.

The whole room was dominated by the giant Pool, my optics drifted to the left where a claw loomed over the pool, rusted with old and new energon, and behind that was what seemed to be a prison cell, its long electrified bars extending upward, their field crackling with energy. The Smelting pools flames reached high into the the air and over the lip, as if trying to find another victim, while the magma crackled and spat with fury, the flames cast sinister shadows over the walls and as I follow their path upwards I see well over a hundred mechs hanging wrapped in chains from the ceiling, they were all partially melted, most of them had their whole lower half melted off and some were just a pair of dangling legs -I try not to think about what their last moments must have been like- all of them rusted and gray with looks of indescribable agony on their faceplates. I tear my optics away from them and try to focus so I can study the rest of the room- That's when I spot the platform extending over the edge on the opposite of the Smelting pool with flames licking greedily at it with a raised platform at its base with the controls for the claw on it's side and a chair on the top, as if- as if it were some sort of _sport_ , as if watching bots die in unimaginable pain were something to be _enjoyed_ with many-. I twist away from the awful sight and purge my tanks as I fall to my servos and kneejoints, my whole frame shaking, unable to comprehend the enormity of the torment that happened in this room,

 _'This doesn't make sense, these things are supposed to be on Cybertron, not here, not on earth,'_ I think, my whole being denying the sight before me, my processor whirling with thoughts of what this means for my current situation.

"Hey, who're you and what are you doing in here?" The sudden achingly familiar voice shocks me out of my thoughts and I quickly whip my helm up and spot the well known frames of my teammates Bulkhead and Arcee down the hallway that I had arrived from, belatedly realizing just how far I had wandered into the room when I see the distance between myself and the archway.

"Hey pipsqueak, I asked you a question." Bulkheads gruff voice voice sounded strange, crueler, deeper, and more threatening. And their paint-jobs were completely alien; Bulkheads comforting green plating had been replaced with dull, dark purple armor smothered in war wounds, deep gouges and dents covered the entirety of the armors surface with some areas having had all the paint forcibly scraped off, and where Arcee's armor had once been navy blue, now it was matte black with the silver under-plating being a dark gray and the pink accents were now purple on her legs and arms while the ones around her face were a deep, cruel crimson, highlighting her blazing red optics.

_'Wait, red optics?'_

"I'm not going to ask you again, so you better answer now before I really loose my temper," Bulkhead growls as he starts stalking towards me, Arcee trailing behind listlessly. I scramble onto my pedes and stumble a few steps in his direction before I hear a rumbling growl coming from his smaller companion, I flick my optics onto Arcee to see her glaring at me with wild optics and freeze before quickly putting my servos into the air.

 _ **~Bulkhead, Arcee, It's me Bumblebee! What are you doing here?! Are you the rescue team? Where are the others, are they safe? And what's with those paint-jobs are you in disguise or something? Because let me tell you, you guys pull off the scary look way too well.~** _ I chirp with a forced chuckle, hoping to get laugh from Bulkhead or at the very least a smile, but all that it seems to do is make him pause and stare at me curiously while Arcee gives a hiss of annoyance at the servo that comes down to stop her.

"Bumblebee, huh. Well, Bumblebee I don't think I've heard a bot with a broken vocalizer like yours since the beginning of the war and I have to admit, I'm not too happy hearing it again after having worked so hard to eradicate Cybertron of broken, glitch-mice like you when we incinerated the hospitals." Bulkheads lip-plates turn upwards in cruel amusement, his red optics seeming to look through me for a moment as he gets caught up in old memories.

_**~...what?~** _

"Well, not to worry this is a problem that's easily fixed; Arcee," Arcee snaps her helm up to look at him when she hears the authority enter his voice and her frame abruptly becomes completely loose, as if she were a puppet waiting for him to pull her strings and when I look to her faceplate in alarm there is frenzied anticipation in her optics as she looks at him, waiting with absolute stillness for his next command. I feel fear fill my processor as I stare at Arcee, her sudden total change in demeanor causing a shiver of revulsion down my backstrut at the sheer unnaturalness with which she held herself, and I can't help but fall back a step, my arms lowering slowly as I feel my battlemask cover my faceplate without my permission, when Bulkhead looks straight into my optics with a look of sadistic joy and a big grin lighting up his face as he says, "Kill this trespasser."

In a sparkpulse Arcee has eaten half the distance between us, a giant manic smile on her faceplate as she sprints toward me.

 _ **~Arcee, wait! What are you doing!? I'm not a enemy!~**_ I warble desperately even as my weapons online automatically at the incoming threat, but I keep my cannons determinedly offline, because there must be something going on I don't know about, something that's making them act this way and maybe I can talk them out of whatever is controlling them right now, _**~Arcee listen to me! It's Bumblebee!~**_

But Arcee doesn't react to my voice at all and lunges straight for my neck and I only manage to get out of the way by pure luck when I stumble over my own pede, but it only buys me a moment before her sharp talons are swiping for my vulnerable neckcables again forcing me to hastily deflect the blow with my left servo, leaving deep gouges in my arm plating.

 _ **~Arcee it's me! Stop! Listen, please this isn't you! I know you're in ther-~**_ Arcee cuts me off with a crazed giggle as she swipes for for my chassis and I quickly dodge backwards, my pedes scraping loudly on the floor as I dodge another swipe for my optics, I try to keep up with her constant and unpredictable barrage of strikes, but it's a losing battle and I know it as she beats me back steadily toward the wall behind me, the flames to my left casting sharp shadows over us and giving everything a sense of urgency and foreboding.

"Aw, poor little sparkling Decepticon, you really should have stayed home with sire because now," Arcee gives a delighted giggle as she slices through a few energon sub-line in my neck, her optics filled with crazed, joyful abandon, "Now I get to have a new toy to cut up and slice and play with all I like!" As her talons scrape painfully against my faceplate when I'm forced to pull back sharply to dodge her intended area of my main energon line, I prepare myself to fight back, knowing that if I didn't fight back then there was no way I would be able to make it out of this alive. Because it was now quite obvious that her processor was too far gone for me to do anything about it without Ratchet, and I would get her to Ratchet, I would never leave my family to be slaves to the Decepticons no matter how much they hurt me.

I brace myself and let my frame flow into a stance that Jazz had drilled into me over the course of our many training sessions on Cybertron and with the nimbleness that my frame type provides and the slick precise speed that I had honed over many vorns, I snatch her servo out of the air and use her own momentum against her as I grab her arm and flip her over my frame and onto the floor; her shock at my sudden attack preventing any kind of counter move as she is thrown down with all my might, her helm connecting with the floor with a resounding crash, and her optics flickering briefly before going dark.

I jump back swiftly to get as much distance as I can between us before she can recover, but I only make it a few feet back when I hear a deep base growling right behind me and hastily duck as I hear a huge servo pass through the spot that my helm had just been, I dodge to the left as hear the servo come down toward me again and quickly online my plasma cannons as I size up my next opponent; My spark-brother, Bulkhead.

"You should have went down when she first attached you Mouse, because now it's my turn, and I love to draw out the agony for as long as possible." Bulkheads large frame seemed to grow as he leered at me from across the short distance separating us and I risk a quick glace behind me to see that the Smelting pool was only a few feet away, it's flames coming dangerously close to scorching my plating, I turn back to Bulkhead, my cannons fully online and I slowly lower them to point directly at his sparkchamber.

**_~Bulkhead I don't want to fight you. Please, if you're in there, you need to stop this right now before someone gets seriously hurt.~_ **

Bulkhead smirks, his optics flashing cruelly, his frame tensing to charge, "Oh little mouse, I'm looking forward to it."

He rushes at me without a second thought, his pedes leaving deep dents in the floor from where he had dug them in to get momentum, and I rapidly fire two rounds into his chassis knowing that it would't offline him, but might be able slow him down, but it doesn't even make him stumble as he races at me, only a couple of pained grunts and half melted plating showing that I had done any damage at all. Before I know it he's bearing down on me and I quickly jump out of the way as he skids to a stop almost directly where I had just been, his mace-like servos crushing into the ground with an audible SMASH and I flee to the left, parallel to the Pool.

"Coward! Fight me like a warrior!" Bulkhead roars, his pedesteps shaking the ground beneath me as he gains on me. I pick up my pace, my fans whirring in my chassis as they try to cool my frame from the excessive heat given off by the Smelting pool.

I look around desperately for something to use against Bulkhead, knowing I was way outclassed, painfully aware of the fact that I had only won the battle with Arcee because she had underestimated me and I had the element of surprise. But Bulkhead knew I was a fighter now, so there was no way he would give me a chance to use a move like the one I had used on Arcee (as if it would work on someone of his weight class anyway) and I didn't want to use the other combat moves that I had been taught that were designed for his size class as the ones I was taught could offline a mech easily and I didn't think I could hold back in the heat of battle. I wouldn't take that chance with my spark-brother. I sprint around the edge, the flames licking greedily at my pedes, swiftly ducking under the claw,and instinctively grabbing it and pulling it further down, I hide a wince when almost immediately afterward I hear a loud clang from behind me followed by a hoarse groan.

 _'There has got to be another door out of this place,'_ I think frantically as I rapidly approach the viewing platform, the sound of Bulkheads growling and the pounding of his pedes when he recovers only increasing my desperation, _'M-maybe I could dodge around Arcee and get out the way I came? Because there no way I can beat Bulkhead on my own and I'm not going to be able to run forever, which means I need to find a way out of this Primus forsaken pit, and quick.'_

I transform my cannons back into servos and try to leap onto the platform hoping to put more space between myself and the rapidly gaining Bulkhead, but I feel something wrap around my pedes and my vocalizer gives a startled whistle as I go crashing back down onto the floor below. I lay there for a moment, dazed, but quickly shake it of and attempt to regain my footing, only to give another high pitched shriek as I'm dragged backwards. I whip my helm to look behind me and see Arcee standing there, an animalistic snarl on her face and a chain looped around her arm, leading straight to my pedes. I screech in fear when I feel a giant servo encircle my trapped pedes and i'm lifted up into the air, face to face with Bulkheads murderous optics. I try to transform my servos, but before I can even begin his other servo grabs my wrists and crushes them, ripping a pained scream from my vocalizer and rendering them useless.

"Finally caught you, you little glitch. Now I'm going to enjoy ripping you apart, piece by fragging piece," Bulkhead snarls as he drops my pedes and tightens his hold on my servos, pulling another agonized cry from my damaged vocalizer as I dangle limply in his grip, my processor spinning dizzily with pain.

"We could do that," Arcee says thoughtfully as she comes to stand beside Bulkhead, a wicked smile curling on her faceplate, "or we could use this room for its true purpose, after all he did want in here so desperately, it's only courteous that we give him the full experience."

Bulkhead turns to her and gives her villainous grin, "Have I ever told you that I love the way you think?" He grabs the chain dangling below my pedes and I feel raw terror grip me as I'm flipped once more upside down, my helm just below Arcee's and I try in vain to move my servos, but all that happens is a stabbing pain as they twitch ineffectually, emitting sparks and leaking energon.

_**~W-wait you don't want to do this-~** _

"Oh, but we do," Arcee purrs as she and Bulkhead walk almost leisurely together until they are only a few feet away from the Smelting pool, "In fact, this will be the highlight of our orn."

Bulkhead lets the chain slide gradually out of his servo, lengthening it until he can start swinging me back and forth slowly in a pendulum, his optics focusing on the sight of the Smelting pool a few feet in front of him. I try with frenzied desperation to push him away or pull at the chains or even to try and hit Arcee, but it does nothing to slow them them down or delay them in the least and only causes agony to knife through my broken servos.

_**~Please , please stop you don't know what you're doing, don't do-~** _

I scream in processor numbing terror as I'm suddenly swung around bulkheads helm, once, twice, before he lets me loose and my vocalizer gives out into static from the pitch of my cries. The air rushes past me as I rapidly descend and I can't help the thought of how they would never forgive themselves as I near the magma, hoping that they would somehow get out of here and save themselves, even if it cost me my own spark. Then a loud commanding voice cuts through the air like a whip and I feel the chain get yanked backward and my rapid fall is suddenly stopped as I watch the magma fly past my optics, The last thing I remember is the gray of the steel paneling on the wall of the Smelting pool as I tried to twist away from a direct collision with my doorwings and a sharp pain in my helm, then darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... that was longer than I meant it to be... it was only supposed to be about 2000 words, but here we are, at over double that. Oh well I suppose, just don't expect this length for all the chaps okay? ^-^;  
> Also, what did you guys think of Arcee and Bulkhead? I tried to make them as realistic as possible considering they're not in canon, so tell me what you think, did I do them well, should i add something? And for those of you here for the major sads, the real torture is coming next chapter so be prepared for more feels and lots of Bumblebee angst! And guys if you see something that you think needs to be tagged make sure to tell me and I'll put it up there.  
> Well my friends, that concludes this chapter, not really sure when I'll get the next one out, but I'll try to be as quick as I can! Comments give me life so please leave one if you're enjoying the story, hoped you liked it and thank you all for reading!


End file.
